West Brom legend Ally Robertson excited for return to China
Baggies legend Ally Robertson is heading back over to China – and it is likely to be a lot different to how he remembers it.
The Scot played 626 times for Albion and has been invited by current owner Guochuan Lai to a British Embassy event in Beijing, 40 years on from the club’s iconic trip to the country.
The Baggies were the first English side to tour China and managed to attract capacity crowds for all their matches including a 2-0 win over the national side – in front 89,400 fans in Beijing.
“Fair play to Ron Atkinson who was in charge at the time, we won all the games over there,” said Robertson.
“He knew they’d be making sure they had the best players available for that big game in the capital, they were well up for it so we did well.
“Football was just starting to take off there at that time and we went over there with a great team.
“When we played in Beijing, there was the best part of 100,000 fans in the stadium – but it was silent.
“There was one part of the game where the fans started to make some noise and were then told to keep quiet over the tannoy.
“You were in this massive stadium and if I was shouting ‘man on’ or whatever, you could hear it all the way around the stadium.
“We were so used to there being so much noise in a stadium. It was a bit eerie actually.”
Albion’s main sponsors Palm are staging the reunion, which will also be attended by the veterans from the Chinese teams who provided the opposition in 1978, to promote the launch of a new charity in China.
Robertson will be joined on the trip by the club’s chief commercial officer Simon King, flying out today.
“I can’t wait to see the difference,” said Robertson.
“Beijing was all very grey, dark, and full of bicycles – everywhere you looked there were bicycles.
“I bet that’s probably five lanes of cars now.
“I just can’t wait to see the difference of it all. Back then, it was so far removed from what we were used to in Britain.
“It didn’t feel like a city in Beijing, there were hardly any shops. Now it’s just like going to London, or New York City. You just couldn’t believe they way it was. People were looking at is, in bright-coloured shirts and jeans, and they were shocked.”
Palm are backing the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund and will use Albion’s brand to help promote its projects.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to be going back there 40 years down the line,” added Robertson.
